differences of regional languages

term of convenience used to refer to the forms of speech employed by Serbs,
Croats, and other South Slavic groups (such as Montenegrins and Bosniaks, as Muslim Bosnians are known). The term Serbo-
Croatian was coined in 1824 by German dictionary maker and folklorist Jacob Grimm.

Throughout the 19th century Serbs spoke of “the Serbian language” and
Croats of “the
Croatian language,” though they ended the century with standard forms much more similar and mutually intelligible than they had had previously. Yet the
Croats maintained a favourite cultural practice of purism, seeking to replace foreign words with old or newly coined
Croatian ones. For...

distribution

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is home to members of numerous ethnic groups. The three largest are the Bosniaks, the Serbs, and the
Croats. Continuing efforts by the international community to promote the return of persons forcibly displaced during the Bosnian conflict (1992–95) to their original homes, as well as domestic political sensitivities, blocked the conduct of a census well into the...

Croatia

...proportion fell dramatically as a result of the 1990s war of independence—from more than one-tenth of the population before the war to less than half that figure in 2001. In addition to the
Croats and the Serbs, there are small groups of Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks), Hungarians, Italians, and Slovenes as well as a few thousand Albanians, Austrians, Bulgarians, Czechs, Germans, and other...

history of

Balkans

...overtones. The dispossessed aristocracy belonged primarily to the formerly dominating elements: German, Hungarian, or Russian. The new owners were predominantly from the formerly subject groups:
Croat, Romanian, Ukrainian, and Slovene—though poor Magyar or German peasants were also allowed a share of the redistributed property. The process of redistribution was not equally enforced; it...

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Slavs began to settle in this territory during the 6th century. A second wave of Slavs in the 7th century included two powerful tribes, the
Croats and the Serbs:
Croats probably covered most of central, western, and northern Bosnia, while Serbs extended into the Drina River valley and modern Herzegovina. The terms “Serb” and “
Croat” were in this period tribal labels;...

Bosnian conflict

ethnically rooted war (1992–95) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a former republic of Yugoslavia with a multiethnic population comprising Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Serbs, and
Croats. After years of bitter fighting that involved the three Bosnian groups as well as the Yugoslav army, Western countries with backing by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) imposed a final cease-fire...

Croatia

The lands where the
Croats would settle and establish their state lay just within the borders of the Western Roman Empire. In the 6th and 7th centuries
ce, Slavs arrived in the western Balkans, settling on Byzantine territory along the Adriatic and in the hinterland and gradually merging with the indigenous Latinized population. Eventually they accepted the Roman Catholic Church, though...

...Democratic Union (Hrvatska Demokratska Zajednica; HDZ), led by Franjo Tudjman (a former party member who had been jailed during the suppression of the
Croatian Spring), was victorious in the
Croatian elections of 1990. The Serb minority was deeply alarmed by
Croatia’s new constitution (promulgated in December 1990), which omitted Serbs as a “constituent people,” and by the...

Dayton Accords

...from Yugoslavia, ethnic Serbs, who opposed the breakup of Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, launched armed struggles to carve out separate Serb-controlled territories in both areas. Around the same time,
Croats and Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) also began fighting each other, largely over territory.

Serbia

...the greater part of the Balkans, and the use of the Cyrillic alphabet became one of the most visible cultural aspects separating Serbs (together with Bulgarians, Macedonians, and Montenegrins) from
Croats and Slovenes.

...the Serb diaspora. The Ausgleich of 1867, establishing the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary, tied Dalmatia to Vienna while subordinating civil
Croatia and Slavonia to Budapest. In the latter regions
Croats were exposed to a regime of Magyarization, which in turn stimulated
Croat nationalism. The old Military Frontier, with its large Serb population, was abolished in 1881, bringing the Serbs into...

...promising the public continued commitment to the autonomist movements in
Croatia and Bosnia. But the economic and political cost of this commitment was beginning to wear on the regime. Thus, when a
Croatian offensive in the spring and summer of 1995 stripped the Krajina of virtually its entire Serb population, Serbia did not intervene (although many of the expelled Serbs were resettled in the...